One in four drivers admit to giving cash to another driver as hush money after causing an accident in a bid to keep down the costs of their car insurance.

Of the remaining drivers, four out of 10 said they would consider settling an accident bill out of their own pocket to keep the costs of motor cover down.

Excuses for the dishonesty include the excess was too high for a minor bump (22%), they wanted to keep their no claims bonus (11%) or keeping the accident quiet to avoid hikes in premiums (54%).

Hit and run drivers admitted failing to report damage-only accidents with parked cars if no one was about to witness the incident (4%).

Of those who were at fault in accidents, one in five admitted lying to shift the blame to the other driver.

A few criminal drivers (2%) paid off other drivers after a crash because they had no insurance.

Farhad Farhadi, personal finance expert at myvouchercodes.co.uk, who carried out the survey, said: “Insurance is one of those areas where, a lot of the time, companies rely on the honesty of the customer.

“It’s quite shocking to see that people have tried to lie about situations in the past in an attempt to shift the blame or keep their premium at a lower rate.

“A lot of road accidents must be going unreported, as the number of drivers who admitted to paying off another motorist was much higher than we expected. It’s very important in a situation such as a collision to do things properly, but if people are avoiding going through their insurance so their no claims bonus and premium won’t be affected, I can see why it’s tempting for many.”

The latest car insurance industry figures reveal that every driver has to pay between £30 and £80 a year on their policy to cover the costs of fraudulent claims and uninsured drivers.